2011-09-27

The season's not over yet, not till tomorrow. It won't be till tomorrow that we know who won the wild cards (possibly not even tomorrow in either league, given all the ties), but it's over for my team and my sons' team. Sure, A's fans can hold their collective breath and see if Coco Crisp gets his fiftieth steal, or if Josh Willingham gets thirty home runs or a hundred RBIs, but, for the teams, the season is over. And the Pirates, you may have heard, not only failed to make the playoffs (more than I was willing to ask for), but racked up another losing season, breaking their own record. Again.

Sigh.

Although Giamatti has convinced me that sport is as worthy of my attention as art, still, at this point, I have to wonder: what was the point?

I mean --- I'm feeling happy for the Brewers and I'm always available to root against the Yankees --- yet all this ritual &c, I don't know.

I do like baseball, but maybe I'm not convinced it's as good as art.

Well. Let me retract. It's better than Transformers. Not as good as The Royal Tenenbaums.

2011-09-25

At church the other week, Femtoman (so named because he makes lasers measured in femtoseconds --- did you know there are more femtoseconds in a second than years between us and T.Rex? in fact, there're about as more femtoseconds in a second than seconds in 30 million years) made an interesting point as regards these two scriptures:

John 3:5

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

D&C 137:5

I saw Father Adam and Abraham [in heaven, natch]; and my father and my mother; my brother Alvin, that has long since slept

And suggested that because Joseph Smith took the first verse literally, he didn't assume it was wrong or it wasn't to be taken at face value --- nothing like that. Instead he marveled and this led to a revelation that led to work for the dead.

I am Sir William , a United States Citizen working here in England, my proposition to you is both business and humanitarian based, humanitarian in that we shall be securing the future of a teenage girl, 13 yrs of age,and business in that you and i will be getting a financial reward of 6Million Pounds just by helping the teenage girl secure a quality education and investment abroad . I believe we can handle it together, once we have a common understanding and mutual cooperation in the execution of the modalities. I work with a financial institution here and will provide you more information when i hear from you.

2011-09-19

A dying woman, her husband, her beloved niece --- three lapsed Mormons --- in a concise story, constrained by one apartment, one afternoon.

I love how small everything is in this story about a topic so large as what is life, what is death, what is meaning.

Josh Allen "Conceiving God"

As James Goldberg pointed out, the only Mormon "character" in this story is the Boise Temple. Which I admit rather threw me. But the story is beautiful and surprising and ends with an act of sex that has religious symbolism, almost as if Allen wrote the story hoping I would write about it.

I love that it’s an old couple and how their oldness and their coupleness plays out and how real, yet unique, yet fictional it seems. I enjoyed the background presence of the mommy blogger daughter (although it’s maybe a little too hammered home in the end). The imagery with the hummingbirds somehow feels like it’s adding to the whole mix without screaming allegory.

2011-09-18

[This is part of a continuing series in which I take old emails I once sent out preclass as part of a calling I once held. This particular email was sent 10/20/09. Certain identifying details have been redacted or changed.]

Given some of the people I've been spending a great deal of time with lately, this part of Pr U's talk stuck out to me:

A friend of mine recently wrote to me, confiding that he was having a difficult time keeping his testimony strong and vibrant. He asked for counsel.

I wrote back to him and lovingly suggested a few specific things he could do that would align his life more closely with the teachings of the restored gospel. To my surprise, I heard back from him only a week later. The essence of his letter was this: “I tried what you suggested. It didn’t work. What else have you got?”

Brothers and sisters, we have to stay with it. We don’t acquire eternal life in a sprint—this is a race of endurance. We have to apply and reapply the divine gospel principles. Day after day we need to make them part of our normal life.

I'm reminded of the old chestnut President Lee originated: "Testimony isn't something you have today, and you are going to have always. A testimony is fragile. It is as hard to hold as a moonbeam. It is something you have to recapture every day of your life."

I think of Peter who knew as much as any mortal could reasonably hope to know, and how he blew it, falling into sleep then violence then denial that last night.

I think of the Brother of Jared who forgot to pray.

I think of Moses who, in his impatience, forgot to give glory and honor to Jehovah.

How can any of us, struggling to hold onto the iron rod, hope to attain great faith without a lifetime of uninterrupted effort?

Life is a struggle. Faith sustains us, but God doesn't hand it out like credit cards to college freshmen. Faith also requires work.

2011-09-13

It's not often a history book will ask you to doubt the reality of its very subject. And while I could have 2011ed it and just asked Wikipedia, I chose not to, but instead let the book lead me along, wondering if all I was told was true or if it was an elaborate fiction masquerading as fact. It was dizzying. And tempting.

In a world where lying books are shocking, why not just tell a lie. Write an out-and-out verifiable lie yet claim its reality and demand readers accept an obvious fantasy --- not as fiction, but as fact. Why not? Why not lie with the intent to deceive even when deception is utterly impossible? I'm not talking about these faux memoirs about personal lives. I'm talking about grand histories based on utter nonsense which anyone can uncover for themselves. Why not?

What else is there left to lie about save public truth? Not like politicians do it, not like business does it, but like history won't do it.

2011-09-11

[This is part of a continuing series in which I take old emails I once sent out preclass as part of a calling I once held. This particular email was sent 5/21/09. Certain identifying details have been redacted or changed.]

It's common knowledge (or would be if you were all stalking me) that I think Thoreau is mostly simple in the stupid sense, but he's better known for saying things like "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!" and "Simpligy, simplify." (cf) which sort of prove my point, come to think of it.....

Anyway! Elder Perry!

I actually quite enjoyed Elder Perry's talk overall.

From his experiences at Walden Pond, Thoreau determined that there were only four things that a man really needed: food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. I would like to expand on each of these four basic needs of life, as well as the spiritual benefits of a simplified lifestyle.

He then takes these four basic needs and metaphorizes them all over the place. Or, more accurately, applies the first four to Church standards and policies and metaphorizes the final one. The talk is rather short and pithy and easy to get through.

One of his points related to discussion we've had a few times in the last couple months relates to tight times. But let me broaden the question and ask you this: What principles of simplicity should we master now that will benefit us in the years to come?

2011-09-09

I have four guest posts that will be appearing on By Common Consent in the next little while. (This is the first.) So I plan on using that as an excuse to remain more or less static here on Thutopia (though I'm sticking with my goal to keep svithing!).

In other news, the boys and I are going to make some Pucker Doodles this afternoon. So that'll be delicious.

072)Blacksad written by Juan Díaz Canales and drawn by Juanjo Guarnido, finished September 5

This volume contains three stories previously published. This volume contains three awesome stories.

I just heard of Blacksad a week or so ago and requested it through the library. It showed up and I read it. And it's terrific.

While this book has anthropomorphic animals, I mostly agree with his statement from Jim Steranko's introduction: "Rather than animals who act like people, the creators' approach is predicated on people who resemble animals." It's true. This isn't Mickey Mouse (see below). This is something different entirely.

And the art is just astonishing. Canales has a mastery of human expression in body and face that I've rarely seen in comics. I can't get over his work.

One downside though. The male characters who get to be animals. Generally, the female characters look more human than the males. And they're fewer of them. And the most animal characters are always male. The noirish nature of the tales lets Canales get away with this, but ultimately it seems a bit of the easy way out.

Anyway. The stories are dark, noir tales. The first more classic setup. The second in a segregated city. The third during the McCarthy red-scare era. So, yes, American stories. But because the writer and artist are Spanish, they understand the Mythic America better, I think, than an American artist could. For American artists, we always know the real America best. Only someone from the outside can believe in the myth as well as someone who makes a living drawing Bible stories understands the Mythic Israel.

Good book. Some sex and violence (be warned) but I loved it. (Lady Steed though, read a couple pages, got bored, set it down.)

The book is lovely, as you can see from the art above (click either to see more pages), but it wasn't what I expected. And although the review linked to in the pictures thought the book told a terrific story, my complaint is that it didn't seem to tell a story at all. I can't tell for sure as I already know the major details of his life, but I'm not convinced someone without the basics could tell what's going on. For instance, Clemente's humanitarian work is barely touched on, then, at the end, is made to seem his defining attribute. But we hardly saw it! If we didn't already know, would we now?

Maybe the audience was only people who already know the broad stripes and are just interested in a beautiful telling?

I don't know. If you don't know anything about Clemente (or even better: baseball), please read this book and tell me what your experience was.

Periodically, the action pauses for quotations from nonfiction texts about Puerto Rico. Although, putting on my literary-analysis cap, I can find good reasons for all of them, I'm not convinced the lengthy National Geographic but on traditional drum music was a good reason to break the death in half. (I felt similarly about the text by an occupying American soldier, though it was fascinating. You can read the clip here for yourself. I'ld love to talk to you about it.)

Anyway, beautiful book. Not what I wanted but, well, that other biography's still available to me. I shouldn't blame a book for not being what I want. It did succeed on most levels. I'm just not convinced it's impressionistic timejumping and borderline-pointless framestory and bitsandpiecing sampling methods add up to a book nonfans can enjoy. All that said, I learned about this song:

I started to read Bone about ten years ago and loved it. I could see why everyone was talking it up back when the single issues were coming up. But then it got tough to find a certain one of the trade paperbacks and the library and weeks turned into years until finally, last February, I bought myself the one-volume edition. And read it with my kids.

Who loved it.

Truly: this is one of the great comics to read with kids. Exciting, smart, funny, dangerous, scary --- it has it all. And don't let the idea of spending twenty bucks slow you down. This book runs well over a thousand pages with nary a dull moment.

The story begins with three Pogo-looking characters run out of their hometown and lost in the mountains. The get involved in a Tolkeinesque drama with monsters and talking bugs and dragons and magic and dreams and the risk of losing the world. Only with more gag panels.

If you don't follow comics, you might not know how legendary this book is. But it is and it has earned that status. Listen to Time:

Combining the instant gratification strong cartooning with the deep engagement of epic storytelling and the universal appeal of humor, Jeff Smith's "Bone" has becomes the best all-ages graphic novel yet published. While older readers will tune into such themes as the folly of blind fanaticism and the corrupting nature of power, the younger set will simply thrill to the adventure and delight at the huge cast of characters. Hardly a folly anymore, "Bone" now deserves to go from hipster cult item to mainstream literary success.

Note that I received a free copy because I will be reviewing this for Dialogue. As a preview, let me say that this was okay but hasn't aged as well as some comics and I mostly take hope in its potential and the rumors that in a half-decade or so, the stories really start to pop.

Sacrament meeting, by general agreement, is the most important. Certainly, it's the most likely to go over.

Sunday School, by general agreement, is the least important.

Result? Sacrament meeting goes over, people dally on their way to Sunday School, Sunday School gets shorter and shorter.

Many people, I should also point out, have a bad attitude about Sunday School. (This is not generally true in our ward where Sunday School is awesome.)

I'm currently teaching Sunday School to kids from age 12 to 14. It's a good class and I'm trying to be ambitious and really make this a class that ends up mattering. But it seems like the class just isn't long enough! It usually ends up being probably 30 minutes on a good week.